Who shoulders the cost

By Doug Russell
News Editor

Over the last few weeks I've heard several people say they weren't worried about the proposed bond election for Stigler Public Schools. Basically, their statements went something along the lines of "I don't live in Stigler, so why should I bother?"
What those people fail to realize is that the boundaries of any particular school district stretch far beyond the city limits.
Take Stigler, for example. A view of the district's boundaries shows that, with a variety of jigs and jags, the district basically stretches from Haskell County's northernmost reaches to Sans Bois Creek in the south, as well as east and west along state Highway 9 for a distance of roughly three miles in each direction. Not only that, but a portion of the Stigler district also runs from about a mile west of Whitefield on the highway all the way to the county line.
That's a big area, housing close to 3,500 registered voters. And, since the U.S. Census Bureau data shows that there are 4,574 occupied housing units in Haskell County, and since 3,525 of those are what are classified as "owner occupied" rather than "renter occupied," it's safe to assume that a good number of those registered voters are property owners. (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)

Booting up

Staff photo by Doug Russell
Stigler Fire Chief Jim Pearson gets a bootfful of change during the fire department's annual Fill the Boot campaign to raise money for the Muscular Distrophy Association. The person donating in this picture had tossed change into an old boot in an effort to help save money for the campaign, then dumped the boot during the drive. Fill the Boot is a program that firefighters acoss the country take part in each year.(more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)

Jeremy Collins Band

And the winner is

Local band fares well in Country Countdown

By Doug Russell
News Editor

It was something of a fluke that they even heard about the contest, but fans don't believe the fact that The Jeremy Collins Band won is a fluke by any stretch of the imagination.
After all, band members have been getting together and practicing regularly for months, getting their songs down, tightening arrangements and making sure that everything is as good as it can be. They haven't had a lot of public performances yet, but those they've had have generated more than a little interest. They've packed the house at Rumors, rocked the road in Warner and blasted blues away at Reunion Days.
So when Collins and another band member were asked if they wanted to sign up for a major music competition, they immediately said yes.
Representatives of Radio Station KTFX were in John Michael's Music in Muskogee one day when Collins walked in. They were signing people up, they said, for the Texaco Country Showdown, formerly known as the Colgate Country Showdown. The Showdown is a long-running country music talent search that has been a springboard for the careers of such stars as John Michael Montgomery, Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks and Leann Rimes.
Would Collins and his band be interested? You bet.
On Sept. 2 the four band members traveled to John Michael's to give it their shot, and the competition was tough. "Everything was very professional and they had some really good talent there," said Collins band member Gray Hunt. "There was some girls whose voices just really blew you away. There was one little girl who was a yodeler, but when she yodeled, she had a puppet.
"A yodeling ventriloquist. I'd never heard of such a thing."
Altogether, 12 acts performed at the KTFX Showdown, each doing one song. From that song, judges chose a winner based on marketability, vocal/instrumental ability, originality, stage presence and overall talent, with possible additional points awarded for performing an original work.
"We did one Jeremy wrote called 'Long Black Caddy,'" Hunt recalled. "It's our powerhouse song. It's one we usually close with, and it was good enough to win."
With a local win under its belt, The Jeremy Collins Band is eligible to play the state finals on Sept. 22. This time they'll have seven minutes to impress the judges and, if they win at the finals at the Oklahoma State Fair, it's time to head for the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for the national finals in January.
The national Country Showdown winner receives $100,000.
"That's something we can use," Hunt said. "I know I can, and I'm sure the others could too."
The Jeremy Collins Band consists of Collins on vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Broyles on bass, D.J. Gray on drums and Hunt on lead.